Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

Florida Again?

Last week a long-time Washington hand (former White House guy from years ago, etc.) told me that he fears that if Democrats unaccountably fall short in this election, they might launch a full scale attack on the integrity of the democratic process itself, with potentially disastrous effects for our politics. We’ve already seen the set up for this, with the ridiculous charges from RFK Jr. in Rolling Stone that Bush (with Ken Blackwell’s help) stole Ohio in the 2004 election.

Over on Slate.com today there is this little nugget from Bruce Reed:

Ask paranoid Democrats their innermost fears going into the midterm elections, and you’ll hear two answers. First, that the Foley scandal will force another October surprise to come out of the Republicans’ closet: Osama Bin Laden. Second, that on Election Night, Diebold electronic voting machines nationwide are secretly programmed to stop counting Democratic votes as soon as Democrats pull within one seat of taking back the House or the Senate. . . Since 2004, many Democrats have become convinced that rigged voting machines in Ohio cheated John Kerry out of his chance to lose the popular vote and still win the Electoral College.

And they call themselves "the reality-based community."

Discussions - 12 Comments

Steven - what exactly do you (and/or your insider friend) mean by "launch a full scale attack on the integrity of the democratic process itself"? Does widescale voter fraud qualify as an attack on the democratic process?

Aside from the issue of whether or not tampering with votes or voting machines has ever occurred, would you consider rigged electronic voting machines to be an attack on the integrity of the democratic process?

If that’s what you (and/or your insider friend) are getting at, then it seems to boil down to this: The paranoid Dems/libs/left are so scared that the GOP will attempt to steal the upcoming election that they could be plotting to outflank the GOP (at least in their scheming little minds) and pre-emptively steal the election, by some as yet unclear means. Maybe by tampering with electronic voting machines that do not provide a verifiable paper record?

In short, conspiracy scenario envisioned by the Right, and perpetrated by the Left, is something to worry about; the inverse is simply the stuff of people in tinfoil hats disconnected from reality.

Maybe we should simply ensure that everyone’s votes can be accurately registered, counted and verified (in the event of a close call), and not have to worry about the integrity of election outcomes?

They already have: Felons can now vote in Iowa and New Mexico, two of the closest states in 2004. I believe there are still lawsuits pending in the federal courts that are trying to force this elsewhere. Large percentages of the black male populations in Florida and Virginia can’t vote because they’re felons. Fortunately, these close states have Republican legislatures, but do they have courageous Republican legislatures? We shall see. Then there’s all this absentee voting and early voting, not to mention efforts to keep polls open late in cities. These people don’t believe in democracy. They believe in "people’s democracy." If need be, they will dissolve "the people" and elect another one.

Oh, very nice, "True Right." Did you ever consider the possibility that a person who has served his or her time shouldn’t lose the right to vote forever? But it’d probably be better for everyone if the only people who could vote were just like you, huh?

Craig (not my nephew), Phil:

You guys are members of a party that engages in wide spread voter fraud. In every state which does not require ID, felons, misdemeanants, tortfeasors, dead people, infants and people who have never existed register to vote Democrat. And they do vote. Democrat. Actually they don’t vote, the people who fraudulently register in their names vote. Early and OFTEN. Are you so naive that you believe the stated reason Democrats, and only Democrats, oppose voter ID?

...he fears that (when) Democrats (delete unaccountably) fall short in this election, they might launch a full scale attack on the integrity of the democratic process itself...

Hasn’t that already happened in Washington? Keep recounting until you get the result you want? First count, Republican wins. Second count, Republican wins. Third count, Republican wins. Hey, I have an idea, lets have a fourth count!

Well, there is a lot of disturbing news about there about Diebold and a much more disturbing hostility toward addressing it.

I relish the chance to shock you, Phil.
While I hardly want every voter to be like me, I do think that in principle the vote should be restricted to people who can pass an English-language literacy test ... and not at a first-grade level, either. I don’t believe a lifelong ban on voting by all former felons, but that should be up to state law, not the courts. I would favor a lifelong ban on voting by violent felons, and a period after the end of the prison sentence in which other felons couldn’t vote. I believe the Democratic governor of Iowa, by a stroke of the pen, restored voting rights to all felons. This is an outrage. It’s a bad policy, and an abuse of power on a question that should be determined by the legislature or the people. And I emphatically hate the idea of a rapist or armed robber canceling out the vote of the his victim, or of a victim’s loved one.

I doubt that these considerations mean a damned thing to you, or to people like Governor Vilsack and the ACLU. But I’ll put them out there nonetheless. Just because you screech about how awful it is to hear the conservative viewpoint is no reason for the rest of us to be silent. Or nice.

It is true that many lefty types really do believe in this nation-wide successful conspiracy in 2004. And there are at least two respectable books at my local Barnes and Noble that purport to prove it.

No one has answered the questions I posed in my 2nd, 3rd, and 5th paragraphs.

Trollboy (Craig/Phil), I’ll answer you stupid questions. Yes, rigging voting machines would challenge the democratic process...but there’s no evidence any such thing has happened (except in the fevered minds of Leftoids). Moreover, using lawyers to bring valid elections into doubt, or having judges sanction partial (and biased) recounts, or putting Donald Duck on the voting rolls also constitute challenges to the democratic process.

The fact is, folk of the Right just aren’t monomaniacal save-the-world nutjobs like so many people are your side of the cultural fence. Oh sure, an anti-abortionist terrorist here or there, but NOTHING like Earth First!, Million Man Marches, and other nonsensical things. No myth spinning about ’conspiracies’, and Reagan/Iran deals to win elections, ad nauseum.

And you know why we aren’t crazy like that? Because we have other things to believe in besides totalitarian ’reform’. The world doesn’t fall on us if we lose an election...indeed, most of us were apolitical before the hard push by the Left to take over the country.

So, nobody’s going to answer me?

For God’s sake Craig: yes, rigged voting machines are bad/hurt the democratic process; personally, I don’t think the Democrats will participate in voter fraud in a wholesale, organized fashion, although the Democrat jackasses out there who think every election they lose is stolen from them might try something - but unlike the Democrats in 2000 and 2004 I don’t think the Republicans will bring forth an army of lawyers if we lose; third (wow, this is a tough one), oh course anyone legally registered to vote should have their vote counted, and I don’t see anyone arguing against that point. If you’re making an allusion to felons voting, then I would direct you back to the comments of True Right. Uncle Guido also made an excellent point about voter ID cards. Why does it concern Democrats so much that people who aren’t registered to vote or are not legally allowed to vote (illegal aliens, for instance) won’t get their votes counted?

Andrew, your last question is an easy one...Democrats want everyone to vote so long as they vote Democrat. In reality, it’s just BS the Dims throw out there to muddy elections...our pal Al proved in Florida that they don’t really give a hoot in Hell about suffrage, etc. All those military ballots, remember? And those partial recounts. Hypocrisy, thy name is Democrat.

Oh, and nice try, trollboy. Pretending you don’t read my posts...hee, hee, hee. But you see, I know that you did, and you know that I know that you did, and I know you know that I know you did....

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